Learning Task # 2 Seeking Out Useful Information Prepared by Vince Crary June 14, 1999

As I documented in my learning task # 4, a lot of coworkers are using a variety of journals to gather useful information. I have used both the Journal of Extension and the Journal of Dairy Science. The Journal of Dairy Science is a new journal for me, and I have just started to look at articles.

The Journal of Extension on the Internet has proved to be a good source of information. I have enjoyed reading it and have printed out and put into a note book a number of the Journal of Extension articles. I have also made copies and sent them to coworkers and co-hort partners.

The World Wide Web is another very useful source of information. I have bookmarked a number of dairy information sites and have developed a personal notebook that I use both as a reference and as a source of Extension research articles I can send to dairy producers. The USDA has a site with a map of the fifty states. You can click on a state and go to that state's land grant college. I have bookmarked the site and use it often.

The Journal of Animal Science is another journal I intend to use in the future. I have been told this source has more beef cattle articles.

To print articles and put them in a notebook with dividers for topic areas has worked well for me. When I find a better or updated reference on the topic, I put that article on top, evaluate the older reference, and decide whether to keep it or discard it.

Some day I will have all of this stored in folders on my computer. I know it can be done, but it all takes time. For now, notebooks and tabs work well for me, but I do intend to get it all organized on my computer, "some day".

-- Anonymous, June 14, 1999